Your two favorite Davids deliver polished sets at American Idols Live in Tacoma

Concert Review |

Fame is that most fickle of commodities. And the attractive, personable young singers performing at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday, as top finalists from the phenom TV talent show "American Idol," were savoring their taste of it.

Predominantly female (median age between 10 and 60), the large T-Dome crowd greeted some of the Idols with polite enthusiasm, and several with wild cheering.

A blend of basic stagecraft, celebrity worship, commercial huckstering and musical diversity, the Idols show gave each performer a solo set of three or four numbers.

Encouraged constantly to roar their approval, the crowd clearly gave the warmest reception to the top male vote getters — who really were the most distinctive entertainers in the bunch.

Right up there at the pinnacle was David Cook, the swaggering yet gracious rocker who won the 2008 "Idol" crown.

Encoring his TV versions of "Billie Jean," "Hello" and the saccharin but heartfelt coronation tune "The Time of My Life," Cook pumped up the crowd, rocked steady and sang impressively.

Only Cook's rendition of "My Hero," dedicated to his ailing brother, missed the mark (due to sludgy over-amplification).

Drawing about as much adulatioun, "Idol" runner-up David Archuleta also dispatched a poised, polished set.

Wearing a black, rhinestone-trimmed suit, the Utah teen showed off some sweet R&B chops on "Stand By Me." But his set was dominated by big, goopy power ballads, including "When You Say You Love Me." (Watch your back, Josh Groban.)

Aussie heartthrob Michael Johns proved as dishy in the flesh as on screen. And just like on TV, his sultry, soulful treatment of "It's All Wrong But It's All Right" (dedicated to "the ladies") outshone his bombastic Queen and Aerosmith covers.

Surprisingly, dreadlocked flower child Jason Castro really earned his tweener screams. He repeated his cheery TV renditions of "Over the Rainbow" (with ukulele) and the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" with gusto, and brought a sunnier, lighter vibe, even to Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."

As for the others? They fell into several camps. The very pretty, earnest, musically bland blondes, like Seattle-born country crooner Kristy Lee Cook and folkie ex-nanny Brooke White. And then there were the two gifted but musically misguided diva-gals — Syesha Mercado (in a dress cut to her navel, straining her way through Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You"), and Carly Smithson, the big-voiced Irish lass, who pushed her pipes to screaming extremes, on "Crazy on You" (prefaced with a nice homage to Heart) and "Bring Me to Life."

Opening the show was Chikezie, the lovable, energized soulster who ingratiated himself with Donny Hathaway's "I Believe to My Soul." And close on Chikezie's heels was No. 9 in the "Idol" race, the cute, perky and vocally underwhelming Ramiele Malubay.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com